TennesseeCAN Statement on 2017 NAEP Results

by TennesseeCAN posted on April 10, 2018April 11, 2018

In response to today’s release of the 2017 National Assessment for Education Progress (NAEP) results, TennesseeCAN emphasizes the need for Tennessee education leaders and policymakers to remain sharply focused on the work ahead to ensure every Tennessee student receives a high-quality education.

NAEP administers nationwide assessments to gauge what students know and what they can do in various subject areas. The 2017 results of the Nation’s Report Card measured students’ math and reading proficiencies at both the 4th grade and 8th grade levels.

“Over the years, Tennessee’s students and teachers have worked hard to improve proficiency and readiness,” said Brent Easley, Executive Director at TennesseeCAN. “We must continue to do what we know is working, and also acknowledge areas from today’s results that indicate a need for improvement, so our state can continue the years-long trend of improving student proficiency and do much more to begin to close achievement gaps.” The TennesseeCAN team will continue to carefully analyze results.

This year, for the first time, the results of Tennessee’s statewide assessment, TNReady, mirror the state’s NAEP results, indicating an important alignment of high standards, a rigorous annual assessment, and accurate measurements of student proficiency.

“We can now be very sure we are telling the truth on educational progress in our state,” said Charlie Bufalino, Director of Policy & Strategy at TennesseeCAN. “Being confident in the accuracy of our state assessment gives teachers and parents reliable, clear measures of student mastery and areas for needed improvement.”